This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to the present embodiments that are described below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light.
Many home entertainment devices not only include the capability to receive and/or process available media content but also include the ability to communicate with other devices in a home network. These devices often include, but are not limited to, set-top boxes, gateways, televisions, home computers, and the like. Further, many of these devices may include multiple interfaces for different types of home networks. For example, a set-top box used for receiving audio and video content from a satellite service provider may include an Ethernet interface for communicating in a wired home Ethernet network and also include an interface for communicating over a co-axial cable using the Multimedia over Cable Alliance (MoCA) standard. The MoCA interface allows separate audio and video signals to be communicated to additional signal receiving devices in a home network using the same wiring (e.g., co-axial cable) used for receiving a broadcast signal.
During operation of a home entertainment device in a home network, it may be important to have an indicator of operational status of the network communication of the home entertainment device (e.g., a set-top box or a gateway) for either monitoring or troubleshooting purposes. The standard physical interface connector used for Ethernet communications typically includes two status light indicators in the connector. However, similar indicators for other communication network interfaces (e.g., MoCA communication) are typically not present. Identifying and troubleshooting connection and/or communication issues in these other networks is hindered by not having some type of indicator for the user to determine whether there is either a “link”, or connection made, to another device. Identification and troubleshooting may further be hindered by not having an additional indicator for whether there is “activity”, or data being transferred, to or from the other device. In particular, no standard location or function appears to be used for providing MoCA communication status indicators. As a result, a typical user of a device using network communication other than Ethernet (e.g., MoCA) does not have easy access to the link or activity information in order to identify and/or troubleshoot communication activity and/or issues.
In some cases, communication status indication for a network may be included as part of the user interface for the device. However, this user interface based status information may not be readily available without navigating through several layers of the user interface menu structure. Additionally, separate light indicators may be added to the product design on either the front bezel or the rear panel on the set top box. However, the additional indicators result in an added expense and have not been commonly done. Therefore, there is a need for a simple, convenient operational status indicator system for multiple network communication. Therefore, there is a need for monitoring and providing operational status for multiple communication networks. In particular, there is a need for a cost effective approach to providing an operational status indicator for in a first communication network, such as a MoCA network, in conjunction with operation and status in a second network, such as an Ethernet network.